A 2-1 home defeat to Martin Jol’s Hamburg last weekend saw Bayer Leverkusen slipped down to fifth spot with Wolfsburg threatening their place in the top five.

A return to winning ways on Saturday against Hannover would be just the tonic for coach, Bruno Labbadia. The Werkself trainer has identified retaining possession as a key area to focus on.

"It is important to find the right balance between attack and possession. We’ve managed that better in the past and we’ve got to rediscover that ability" he told bayer04.de.

"That’s the next step forwards as you need the right players on the pitch to put it into action. We’ve got those players and I’m convinced that they can do it," he added.

They do, however, have to square off against a Hannover side who are strong at home, having collected 20 of their 21 points at the AWD Arena.

"Hannover will play a disciplined game up front. They won’t throw everything into attack but instead wait for mistakes and it’s up to us to keep these to a minimum" the Werkself stated.

"We’ve got 13 matches left and there are no easy games amongst them. It’s all about qualifying for Europe and we can’t afford to drop any points," explained Labbadia.

In terms of team selection, there could be a first opportunity for Toni Kroos to appear in a Bayer Leverkusen shirt with a place on the bench a distinct possibility after the youngster recovered from injury.

"From the very start, we had it in our heads that he would make it into the squad for the Hannover game. He was prepared for the Hamburg match and we’ve cut back on his training sessions this week.

"We now think he’s ready to make a contribution so it is possible that he will get his chance," he concluded.